WALKING IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD, WATCHING THE SEASONS CHANGE, is always a treat. Maybe never more so than right now. Our neighbors embrace the holidays. Some with modest, quiet displays in their windows, some with exuberance. But all our walks and drives through the neighborhood had not prepared us for this. Continue reading “Santa’s actual house, right here in Pilsen”
The pandemic is increasing hunger in virtually every community in America. Here are ways you can help feed people, wherever you are.
THE HOLIDAYS ARE A TIME FOR GIVING. That has always been the case. And now, in the midst of a pandemic, it has never been more important. Hunger, always a challenge even in this richest of nations, is at levels not seen in decades. Continue reading “Hunger affects us all—here’s how to fight it”
[su_dropcap style=”flat”]F[/su_dropcap]riday night, we met daughter Claire’s train from Detroit at Chicago Union Station, its Great Hall pictured here. Sunday morning, daughter Laurel drove in from Milwaukee. After many, many years of traveling to our parents’ homes for the holidays, we are the destination. Have been for a while now—and it feels good. Continue reading “Holiday traditions—never changing, always changing”
We are a nation of immigrants. Appropriately enough, our eating on the 4th of July holiday weekend, a time that celebrates our nation’s birth, illustrates why this is a good thing. We started Friday night at Lao Beijing. Continue reading “Independence Day and food in the land of immigrants”
For attentive service with a side of good dinner conversation, try snagging a seat at the restaurant’s bar.
Friday was our wedding anniversary. When our dinner plans suddenly fell through, we happened to be near Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar. We were offered a perfectly lovely table or seats at the bar. We chose the bar.
Just to clarify, I’m not talking about eating bar snacks in a bar. No wings, jalapeño poppers or clever little sliders. That’s a different experience, fun in its own right, but here I mean dining at the bar in a place that serves a chef-driven menu. Continue reading “The simple pleasures of dining at the bar”
In this recipe from Home Cooking with Charlie Trotter, a braised beef stew flavored with cardamom, garlic, onion, celery and carrots is topped with roasted potatoes, parsnips and celery root. Recipe below.
Charlie Trotter died last week. The groundbreaking restaurateur and chef—and Chicago hometown hero—was just 54. In the world of food, proclamations that someone “changed the way we eat” or “changed the way we cook” get bandied about a lot. In Trotter’s case, both are true and then some. His eponymous restaurant, opened in 1987 in a Lincoln Park townhouse, was an immediate success. And his innovative approach to cooking created a seismic shift in Chicago’s restaurant scene. As William Grimes put it in The New York Times, “In the blink of an eye, the city’s lagging restaurant culture… took a giant step into the future.”
Trotter was a self-taught chef. He became interested in cooking through a college roommate, who was an avid cook. After graduating from college, he traveled around the U.S. and Europe, dining at the finest restaurants, seeking to figure out how the “best” gained that title. His first cooking job was for another famous Chicago chef, Gordon Sinclair. He opened Charlie Trotter’s when he was 28. Continue reading “Thank you, Charlie Trotter: Cardamom Beef Stew with Roasted Root Vegetables”
New York City startup SideTour is all about trying something new and seeing the world through the eyes of others. And now it’s come to Chicago.
People are naturally curious creatures. Naturally social too. Put those two elements of human nature together and you’ve got the driving idea behind SideTour. Founded in New York in June 2011, SideTour is an online marketplace of “handpicked activities, tours and memorable things to do, all hosted by talented local people.”
Some of the events are food and drink related—creating a gluten-free meal with a holistic chef, dining with a banker-turned-monk in his East Village monastery and brewing your own pale ale with a craft beer expert, for instance. Others range from boxing with a world champ in a Brooklyn gym to visiting Hollywood’s secret (props) arms depot in SoHo and learning the art of disguise from a former CIA agent. Continue reading “Hungry for new experiences, new friendships? SideTour comes to Chicago”
Leftover celery teams up with chicken, carrots, tomato paste and rice to become Minestra del Sedano, a satisfying meal in a bowl (recipe below). And a pair of utilitarian holiday gifts lead to hidden urban treasure.
This time of year, food magazines, websites and blogs are awash in holiday recipes. How to make the perfect Hanukkah latke or Christmas roast, countless cookie recipes, vegan holiday menus… Sometimes, I’ve jumped into the fray, with Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies, a Cherry Orange Loaf Cake inspired by a gift my grandmother received as a child and even a dinner for two for friends spending their first married Christmas together.
Other years, I’ve skipped recipes in favor of my grandmother’s story, a poem remembered from grade school and even our non-traditional traditional Christmas Eve dinner (and yes, we’re going again this year). Continue reading “The joys of wasting not, wanting not for the holidays: A simple Italian Celery Soup”
P.O.S.H., one of my go-to spots for cool kitchen stuff, is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And the first annual Cancun – Riviera Maya Wine & Food Festival plans to change the way you think about Mexican cuisine.
Open the kitchen cabinets of any food blogger and chances are you’ll find stacks of mismatched china. We’re always on the hunt for interesting individual plates, bowls, platters and other props for our food photography. Flea markets, thrift stores and even IKEA are all prime hunting grounds. One place where I reliably have good luck is P.O.S.H., an artful jumble of restaurant china, hotel silver and vintage finds from European flea markets in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Continue reading “Small Bites: A charming little shop in Chicago and a giant food festival in Cancun”
The unexpected making of Mint Creek Farm is the subject of my latest USA Character Approved Blog post. And Half Acre Beer Company and Gaztro-Wagon team up for one delicious night.
We’ve been buying lamb (and on occasion, mutton and goat) from Mint Creek Farm for a couple of years now. Mostly, we pick it up at farmers markets here in Chicago and always seem to get into great conversations about the farm with whoever’s working the booth. Still, when I decided to write about their certified organic farm in downstate Illinois for the USA Character Approved Blog, I thought it would be worth checking in with someone at the farm to see what was new. As luck would have it, soon I was on the phone with Harry Carr. He and his wife Gwen started the farm almost 20 years ago, and Harry has a reputation for having a way with a story. Continue reading “Small Bites: A farm built by sheep, and craft beers team up with a food truck”